External Editor
This article describes the External Editor (otherwise just known as the Editor) that comes with Pokémon Essentials. The Editor The Editor is a program which contains several useful features that can help you make your game. Technically the Editor is an RMXP game in itself, but one which has already been compressed and completed. However, its scripts (which are somewhat different to those in an Essentials game) are readily accessible - they are in the "data" folder in the file "EditorScripts.rxdata". In the unlikely event that you want to access these scripts, you can move the "Scripts.rxdata" file out of the folder and rename the "EditorScripts.rxdata" file to replace it, and then open your game in RMXP as normal. Opening the Script Editor will give you access to the Editor's scripts. Features Many of the features in the Editor are also available in Essentials as Debug options. However, there are some features unique to the Editor, which are: Edit Items Allows you to edit the properties of items, as well as create new ones. It is simply a more user-friendly way of editing the PBS file "items.txt". Edit Pokémon Allows you to edit (most of) the properties of Pokémon species. However, it cannot be used to add any new species. It is simply a more user-friendly way of editing the PBS file "pokemon.txt". Reposition Sprites Provides a way to edit the "BattlerPlayerY", "BattlerEnemyY" and "BattlerAltitude" properties for Pokémon species. It displays a mock-up of the battle screen and places the Pokémon's sprites in it, so that the effect of these properties can be seen and adjusted. Auto-Position All Sprites Automatically edits the "BattlerPlayerY", "BattlerEnemyY" and "BattlerAltitude" properties for every Pokémon species according to certain calculations involving visible parts of their sprites. The resulting values are roughly acceptable, but would benefit from being looked over and tweaked via the "Reposition Sprites" feature above. Typically this should only ever be used once, with fine-tuning done afterwards on individual values. Given that it will affect every single species, it should also only be done if you don't mind having to check every single sprite position afterwards (which can be daunting even if it is a relatively quick process). One notable shortcoming of this feature is that it assumes the "BattlerAltitude" value will be 0, meaning that any floating or airborne sprites will need to be adjusted to appear correctly (i.e. above the ground with a shadow beneath them), in addition to any fine-tuning. Edit Regional Dexes Provides a way to edit the defined Regional Dexes, which are defined by the "RegionalNumbers" properties in the PBS file "pokemon.txt". First choose a Dex list to edit, or create a new one. You can then rearrange species, change them or delete them without restriction. Remember to save your changes afterwards. Edit Trainers Allows you to edit each individual trainer, as well as create new ones. It is simply a more user-friendly way of editing the PBS file "trainers.txt". Export All Animations Extracts every defined animation in turn and saves each to its own folder in the folder "Animations". Each animation's folder will contain its own .anm file, as well as a copy of the animation sheet graphic and any graphic and audio files used by that animation. This is everything needed for that animation. Import All Animations The opposite of the "Export" feature above. For each folder in the "Animations" folder, copies the graphic and audio files therein and uses the .anm file to recreate the animation. Use this option with caution: importing animations that already exist in the database will result in multiple copies of these animations. Animations are imported in alphabetical order: this will mess up multi-hit moves animations, since these don't follow the same naming convention as normal move animations do and should be placed after the animation of the first hit (to solve this problem, take a look at this tutorial). The imported animations will be placed in all empty animation slots starting from the second one (the first slot, numbered 0, will be ignored), whether these slots are placed between other animations or at the end of the pre-existing ones. Before importing, check that the size of the animation database is big enough to store the new animations (the database size can be changed in the Animation Editor).